How to Track a Bike with GPS

GPS devices aren’t just for expensive sedans anymore. Thanks to advancements in electronics and design, GPS devices–and GPS trackers in particular–have become much more affordable for people who enjoy alternative means of transportation like cyclists. 

Generally speaking, cyclists tend to use GPS tracking for two reasons:

1. Record route data including distance and time travelled

2. Tracking stolen bikes

Whichever reason you have in mind, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. In this blog, we’re going to dive into how GPS tracking works, how that matters to your bike, what you need to look for in a GPS tracker, and tips for installing one properly. 

How do GPS trackers work?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of more than 30 satellites that constantly orbit the earth, transmitting their location and the time. When you buy a GPS-enabled device, that’s called a “GPS receiver,” which picks up GPS satellite signals.

Any time a receiver is in range of four or more satellites, the GPS estimates that receiver’s location, positioning, and speed. 

There are many kinds of GPS receivers. Your phone has one, and Google Maps uses it to help you navigate around the city. Smartwatches use GPS receivers to measure how far you run, any elevation changes, and the like. 

But what we’re most concerned about today are GPS trackers. These devices keep close tabs on their location and then transmit this data to a server or app, which is then updated with the tracker’s current location (among other things). They’re often used to help monitor the location of personal property such as bikes and other vehicles.

Whether you want more information about your rides or you want to recover your bike, there are certain things you need to keep in mind about GPS trackers:

Your bike’s location affects tracking performance

In order for GPS to work, the satellites need a clear line of sight to your bike. The system uses the known locations of the satellites and the time it takes for their signals to reach the receiver in order to estimate your tracker’s location. 

According to GPS.gov, GPS-enabled smartphones are accurate to within 16 feet, while high-accuracy single-frequency receivers are accurate to within 5.97 ft. 

But if something obstructs the path of one or more of the satellite signals, it throws off the whole equation, making the location inaccurate. 

Buildings, mountains, tunnels, and even trees can interfere with GPS signals by delaying, blocking, or reflecting them. So while GPS does work anywhere in the world, it works best in wide-open areas where there’s nothing between your bike and the GPS satellites in orbit.

What that means for tracking your bike rides

On a bike ride, you might not even notice the gaps in location readings unless your whole route is in a tunnel. Your GPS receiver will still probably pick up enough signals throughout your route to accurately track the distance travelled, your speed, and where you were. 

What that means for tracking a stolen bike

If your stolen bike winds up in a building (such as someone’s house or apartment) or in a parking garage, it might be hard to pin down exactly where it ended up. However, you’ll still be able to see your GPS tracker’s last known location on the street outside the building. 

The GPS tracker should also reacquire a signal the next time the bike leaves the obstructed area. Also, being indoors isn’t an automatic barrier to being tracked. GPS signals can still travel through some building materials, so getting a fix is still a possibility. 

But tracking down a bike’s current location isn’t the only way you can keep your bike from getting stolen. 

Geofencing as an anti-theft measure

Geofencing lets you use GPS technology to create a “virtual fence” around a given location. This might be your house, your school campus, your office building, or even your regular cycling route. Should the GPS tracker–and the bike it’s attached to–leave this fenced-off area, it can send you a message via email, text or app notification. 

Geofencing may not prevent your bike from getting stolen in the first place (that’s what bike chains are for), but it can make the difference between getting your bike back and losing it for good.

Suppose, for instance, that you rode home as usual, and your bike was stolen 15 minutes after you got there. If you have a geofence set up around your property, you’d know the moment it was gone, and you’d be able to track it in real time. Without geofencing though, you might not know your bike was gone until the next day—and if you don’t ride daily, it could be even longer! In that time, someone could store your bike where it can’t be tracked or discover (and remove) your GPS device.

GPS trackers like Spytec allow you to define these geofence boundaries using the companion app. Simply go to the Boundaries section of the application and click “Create a Boundary.” Then draw the boundary on the map. 

If you’re just using the GPS to track your bike route, you probably don’t need to worry about geofencing. But if your primary purpose for using a GPS tracker is theft prevention, then geofencing is an absolute must. 

Passive vs active GPS trackers

A lot of modern GPS trackers regularly transmit their location so that you can track them from another device like your smartphone or laptop. These are called active GPS trackers. But some only record their location-related information, so you have to physically access the device to see its data. These are called passive GPS trackers.

Passive GPS trackers can be useful for recording information about your bike route, but they’re useless for recovering a stolen bike. You wouldn’t be able to see where your bike was until you found it. 

If you shop around for GPS trackers, you won’t find them neatly labeled “passive” or “active.” Instead, you’ll need to confirm if you can access your device’s location from another device. Just know that not every GPS tracker is designed for the same purpose, so you’ll need to pay attention to what you can actually do with the device you’re looking at.

Note that whether you have active or passive GPS trackers, the device is always receiving the signal from the GPS satellites and knows where it is. The difference is how that data gets to you.

What to look for in a GPS tracker for bikes

Since there’s such a wide variety of types of devices to review when you go shopping for GPS trackers, it’s important that you get one with the features and functionality you need. Most of the things we’re going to cover here apply to GPS trackers you’d use for recovering a stolen bike, but we’ll start with one that matters if you just want to track your bike rides.

Data

GPS’s positioning, navigation, and timing data is freely available to the public, and every GPS receiver can use it. But not all of them take full advantage of its capabilities. If you want a GPS tracker to record and learn about your bike routes, you probably want one that:

• Manually starts and stops

• Tracks distance, speed, time, and elevation changes

• Connects to an app that lets you see previous ride history

When you’re trying to find your lost bike, this more nuanced data doesn’t matter, but you will want to pay attention to other features.

Form

Attaching a GPS tracker to your bike frame won’t help if it’s big and obvious. The first thing a bike thief will do is throw it in the garbage or, worse, attach it to something else. 

If your bike has a big, obvious GPS tracker on the frame, the first thing a bike thief will do is throw it in the garbage (or attach it to something else). You need a GPS tracker that’s either small enough to conceal or disguised as part of the bicycle itself.

At Spytec, we have two options for you: the Spytec Micro GPS and the Spytec Mini GPS.

At 2.2”, the Spytec Micro GPS is our smallest and most discreet tracker. It’s about the size of a house key, and can be easily secured out of immediate view, like the underside of the bike saddle or rear reflector. 

Our next smallest tracker, the Spytec Mini GPS, is slightly bigger at 3.1” and slightly thicker, but has the advantage of a magnetic carrying case that can attach to your bike’s frame. You can hide it from view in a water-bottle holder, a bag or rack, or by adding a frame-mounted accessory or weather-resistant cover. 

Battery life

When manufacturers have to make something small, one of the first features they cut is battery life. Good GPS trackers will save battery by staying in “standby” mode until your bike is moving or the geofence is set off. They also don’t transmit constantly, which stretches the battery life further. (It also makes them harder to detect with counter-surveillance devices.)

As you look into specific devices, don’t just check their ideal battery life (which usually indicates the slowest update settings). Also check their settings for when the tracker is on the move. 

Also note that most GPS tracker devices have a defined update speed out of the box, and you may need to contact customer support in order to get that changed. Spytec devices, however, allow you to change the update speed yourself from within the app, which is a huge convenience many of our buyers appreciate.

Real-time tracking

Obviously, if you’re trying to hunt down a stolen bike, you want to find out where it is right now. That means having a GPS tracker you can access from another device; one that transmits location data frequently when it’s “active” or in motion. 

As mentioned before, GPS devices do track their location in real time and send in real time–that is, the information is accurate at the time it is sent–but the frequency of the updates may be anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes (depending on the device settings).

That’s something to keep in mind as you track your bike should it ever be stolen and you’re trying to recover it.

Email, text, or app notifications

GPS trackers aren’t worth much if they can’t tell you where they are, which is why it’s important to have email, text, or app notifications enabled on your device at all times. You can set up geofencing like we mentioned before to minimize unnecessary notifications, like if you’re moving your bike from the garage to your room or something else benign. 

As for the alerts themselves, text alerts or phone app alerts are most likely to get your attention, but if you don’t have access to your phone at work, you should probably set up email notifications instead.

How to install a GPS tracker on a bike

Where you install the GPS tracker depends on the type of device you’re using and what you intend to use it for. If you’re only using the tracker to record ride data, you don’t need to worry about disguising it. However, if you’re using it as an anti-theft device then more drastic measures are required. 

Here are some ideas for where to place your tracker:

1. Under the bike saddle

The bike saddle is a convenient place if your tracker is small enough. While a magnetic mount won’t usually stick there, you may be able to secure it with double-sided tape. One disadvantage of this location is that it’s a fairly common location for trackers and could be discovered by thieves pretty quickly.

2. Under the water bottle holder

The water bottle holder is fairly bulky and could be a good place to hide your GPS tracker away from immediate view–especially if the tracker itself is very small and you can place the water bottle on top of it.

3. Bike basket or cargo rack

If your bike has a basket or cargo rack installed, you could use that as another way to secure your GPS tracker. Just stick it to the underside of the basket or rack, or maybe even put it in between the basket frame and vinyl liner (assuming the basket has a liner). 

4. Attach to bike frame and cover

If none of the above options work for you, you can also simply attach the GPS tracker straight to the frame and wrap it in a bar cover or something similar. Then strap the bar cover tied to the frame so that it can’t be easily removed and complicate access to the tracker itself. 

5. Lights or reflectors

Putting your GPS tracker in or behind your bike’s headlight or rear reflector depends on whether you can actually disassemble it, whether the tracker can fit, or whether you have one in the first place. But if you do, and it can, then you’re all set!

Keep your bike safe and secure

Theft is a risk that all bike owners face, and that many riders have been a victim of at one point or another. And while GPS tracking won’t stop thieves from committing this heinous act, you’ll at least be notified fast enough that there’s time to do something about it–whether that’s tracking the thief down or contacting the police (for your safety we recommend the latter).

Visit our store to explore bike-friendly GPS tracking solutions, or talk to one of our team. And happy trails!